The Advertising Standards Council of India (ASCI) on Monday said nearly 789 complaints against advertisements were upheld in the January-March period. A large number of the complaints upheld were against players in the education and healthcare categories.

Overall, the industry body processed 1,064 complaints during this period and 200 ads were subsequently withdrawn by advertisers on receiving intimation from ASCI.

“Of the 789 complaints that were upheld, 337 belonged to the education sector, 250 to healthcare, 47 to food & beverages, 32 to electronics and durables, 28 to personal care, 14 to automotive, 12 to Gaming & Mobile applications and 69 to other categories. Complaints against 73 advertisements were not upheld as they were found to be adhering to the ASCI code,” the industry body said in a statement.

Most of the 250 complaints against advertisements that were processed in the healthcare segment were regarding fake claims of Covid-19 cures or prevention. “There were 47 complaints processed against food and beverage advertisements, many of them against claims around milk, milk products, bread, green tea, fish oil as well as edible oils like sunflower,” the statement added.

ASCI, which brought in guidelines for online gaming for real money winnings in December 2020, said it has also received 61 complaints related to cricket-gaming and rummy, including those against established brands.

Manisha Kapoor, Secretary General, ASCI said, “We are pleased to note increased consumer vigilance around gaming after the release of our guidelines. ASCI is working on more initiatives to ensure that advertising remains honest and decent, and that consumers’ confidence in advertising is sustained. We also aim to raise consumer awareness to motivate them to report misleading claims. This would help safeguard their interests and encourage ethical advertising that benefits not just consumers but also honest advertisers.”

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